Various types of structural complexes have been employed in the prior art by vendors of retailed products and services for storing products and for selling those products to consumers. Typically, the products are transported from the storage facility, such as a warehouse, to the store in which the products are sold. Consumers can purchase the products by going to the store during its business hours.
While this manner of selling products is commonplace, it has many disadvantages. One major disadvantage is cost. First, there are considerable start-up costs, such as the cost involved in furnishing the store. There is also the cost involved in maintaining the store. Typically, the vendor must not only provide the store itself, but also a parking lot capable of accommodating a reasonable number of vehicles of consumers who will visit the store. The rent on such a piece of property can be quite substantial, especially when the property is located in a major metropolitan area.
Due to the high costs of real estate, vendors are often forced to either locate their stores outside of metropolitan areas or to settle for smaller-sized facilities. In the former case, such locations are often less convenient for consumers. In the latter case, the vendor must sacrifice large product selection, thereby limiting the choice of products he or she may provide to the consumer.
Another problem associated with selling products through stores is theft. Vendors are forced to either absorb such losses or to install and maintain security systems, both of which further increase operating costs. Typically, these costs are passed on to the consumer through increased prices.
As a result of these disadvantages, it is becoming increasingly attractive to vendors to go directly to the consumer as a means to market their goods, such as through mail order, cable television, telemarketing and other direct response channels. There are many advantages to such direct marketing approaches. First, such channels are more convenient since they eliminate the need for the consumer to visit a store. The consumer need only fill out a form or pick up the phone to place his or her order. Second, such channels can be made available to the consumer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Third, such channels have no geographic limits. These channels can be reached by the consumer from anywhere and everywhere.
To be truly effective, however, direct response channels must accommodate the taking and processing of orders in a fast, efficient and yet simple manner. In a typical telemarketing system, the time for an agent to process a customer's telephone call affects the overall performance of the system. For example, if the time for an agent to collect customer information is long, the business may have to employ more agents and subscribe to more telecommunications facilities (e.g., telephone lines) in order to be able to answer telephone calls from other customers in a timely manner. Moreover, if it takes the agent a substantial amount of time to place the order, the business may lose the customer.
The introduction of the computer has helped somewhat in this respect. Computerized shopping systems, however, are typically operated by users that are not computer-educated. As a result, the quality of the user interface is critical. The system must be designed to have a low learning curve.
The system must also be able to handle vast amounts of information. For example, when a customer places an order from a catalog, the agent typically keeps copies of recent catalogs and manually thumbs through them to look up and confirm the products requested by the customer. This procedure can be quite cumbersome. Moreover, since the customer is unable to see the physical product, it is critical to convey accurate product information to the customer.
The system also must be able to support changes due to functional modifications, enhancements and growth. The user interface typically used by computerized shopping systems, however, is embedded in the code of the program. As a result, the user is constrained by the system and not driven by the customer's needs and desires.
Accordingly, a need exists for a customer driven order entry system that permits placement of an order in a timely and efficient manner. There is also a need for an order entry system that provides for the normalization of data in order to limit redundancies of data, and for access to a variety of database management systems. There is a further need for an order entry system that supports enhanced marketing strategies and streamlined operations.